PROS AND CONS OF THE APPLICATION OF DATA ENCRYPTION TO NONGOVERNMENT COMMUNICATION

Abstract

This paper presents a philosophical approach to the contemporary question: Should data transmission within the commercial community employ encryption techniques and what are the advantages and disadvantages? The standard techniques of substitution, transportation, ciphers, codes, keys, synchronous systems, block messages, error correction, and time-sharing are defined for the reader to understand the many and varied techniques available. The properties of the techniques are outlined for further ease of understanding. A limited Glossary of Cryptography is included. The paper is an overview of the general subject of secure communication and does not discuss the theory of specific techniques in depth. Rather it will lead the reader to further explore the subject for theories and results applicable to specific applications.